Three Weeks To Go.

Even more so than the fear of turning this into a wedding blog, was my fear of turning this into a political soap box in which I could alienate friends and piss off my conservative family. I hate soap boxes. I dont even like soap that much.

Few are the political discussions I have ever been in (or anyone has been in for that matter) that have honestly changed the dogma of their opponent. And even fewer have not ended in blows (sometimes if you want someone to agree with you, you have to beat it into them. Thats my dogma, bitches.) Although I feel strongly about my politics, I love my relationships more, and thus do my damndest not to put the former before the latter.

But with three weeks left until the folks in Florida fail to properly punch their ballots again, I have decided to hitch up my skirts and give you an ear full.

Although I have always felt that equality is equality no matter who you love, my passion for the issue has become magnified by the intense rift it has created in my small community. Watching smug, ignorant people parade around with their vague but terrifying "protect parental rights:vote yes on 8" signs lights a fire under my complacent ass. Because I dont know a damn thing about economics, or global warming, or whether or not chickens should lay free range eggs, I tread carefully around those politics. But I do know a thing or two about marriage. I know how much I love G. I know how excited I am to be planning our wedding and how my palms sweat at the idea of walking down the aisle toward him. And I know how I would fight someone tooth and nail if they tried to take that day away from me.

And I refuse to believe that a love between a same sex couple is any less passionate, any less true, and any less deserving than mine.

That being said, here is some very pertinent info from the noonprop8.com website. Check them out.

Fiction: Teaching children about same-sex marriage will happen here unless we pass Prop 8.

Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education, and no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it, and the Yes on 8 campaign knows they are lying. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley has already ruled that this claim by Prop 8 proponents is “false and misleading.”

Fiction: Churches could lose their tax-exemption status.

Fact: Nothing in Prop 8 would force churches to do anything. In fact, the court decision regarding marriage specifically says “no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs.”

Fiction: A Massachusetts case about a parent’s objection to the school curriculum will happen here.

Fact: Unlike Massachusetts, California gives parents an absolute right to remove their kids and opt-out of teaching on health and family instruction they don’t agree with. The opponents know that California law already covers this and Prop 8 won’t affect it, so they bring up an irrelevant case in Massachusetts.

Fiction: Four Activist Judges in San Francisco…

Fact: Prop 8 is not about courts and judges, it’s about eliminating a fundamental right. Judges didn’t grant the right, the constitution guarantees the right. Proponents of Prop 8 use an outdated and stale argument that judges aren’t supposed to protect rights and freedoms. This campaign is about whether Californians, right now, in 2008 are willing to amend the constitution for the sole purpose of eliminating a fundamental right for one group of citizens.

Fiction: People can be sued over personal beliefs.

Fact: California’s laws already prohibit discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. This has nothing to do with marriage.

Fiction: Pepperdine University supports the Yes on 8 campaign.

Fact: The university has publicly disassociated itself from Professor Richard Peterson of Pepperdine University, who is featured in the ad, and has asked to not be identified in the Yes on 8 advertisements.

Fiction: Unless Prop 8 passes, CA parents won’t have the right to object to what their children are taught in school.

Fact: California law clearly gives parents and guardians broad authority to remove their children from any health instruction if it conflicts with their religious beliefs or moral convictions.